Managing as designing, key differences and aspects

1. managing as designing
Prof. Jurgen Faust

2. how to start?
Various possibilities:
storical
ndamental (philosophical)
ersonal
arching/constructing for design discourse in management
visa versa

3. historical:
tiated by Boland and Collopy (2004)
ublished by Stanford Press
llow up conferences in Designing with a ‘Positive Lens’ an
itive Design, Convergence Managing as Designing
p://convergence.case.edu/

6. Fundamentally
discourse:
tention was to stimulate change in management practice a
cation (H. Simon)
spired by the work of Frank Gehry (P.B. Lewis Building)

7. Aspects of discourse
Managing as Designing
oth disciplines are problem solving
anagement is a design discipline
ut problem solving is different in both fields

8. problem solving in managemen
r paradigms in management history:
ternalistic/political paradigm
countability/authority paradigm
orkflow paradigm
ecision paradigm
r and McDaniel, 1986, The decision-Making Paradigm of Organizational Design, in Managem
ce, V. 32, No. 5

9. paternalistic/political paradigm
bal leaders allocating tribal resources, blood ties and polit
giances
igin of management, but still in place, SME, family driven
erprises, entire countries are managed in such ways
r and McDaniel, 1986, The decision-Making Paradigm of Organizational Design, in Managem
ce, V. 32, No. 5

10. ccountability/authority paradigm
e base of Roman Empire, central to classical organizations
tral to Max Weber’s thinking about bureaucracies
hen designing organizations, it is important to specify who
ountable for fulfilling which responsibilities and to allocate
ources so that they can fulfill these responsibilities
r and McDaniel, 1986, The decision-Making Paradigm of Organizational Design, in Managem
ce, V. 32, No. 5

11. workflow paradigm
he workflow paradigm is triggered by the industrial
olution, where organizational structures and processes are
gned around the flow of work
r and McDaniel, 1986, The decision-Making Paradigm of Organizational Design, in Managem
ce, V. 32, No. 5

12. Decision paradigm
ecisions are driven by making rational choices among
rnatives using tools like: economic analysis, risk manageme
tiple criteria decision making, simulation and the time valu
money.
erefore the focus is on analysis instead of creating
rnatives to existing solutions.
decision attitude assumes that the alternatives are already
d

13. designing
is different...
esigners are not primarily concerned in making decisions
esigners are concerned to find the possible best solution
d and Collopy, 2004, in Managing as Designing, Stanford press

14. esigners are always in the midst of something
rown into a situation (Geworfenheit from Heidegger)
thout the opportunity of acting and function as a detache
erver
Weick, ,Rethinking Organizational Design’, in Managing as Designing, ed. Boland and Collopy
ord press, 2004, 36

15. designing limitations
tremely difficult decisions
mbiguous and conflicting information
ifting goals
me pressure
namic conditions
mplex operational team structures
oor communication
ery course of action carries significant risk
Weick, ,Rethinking Organizational Design’, in Managing as Designing, ed. Boland and Collopy

16. thrownness
is a useful vocabulary for design
cepts a different set of background assumptions
mited amount of options, unreflective submission, occasio
rruptions, unquestioned answers, readymade categories f
ression and interpretation and disjunction between
erstanding and explanation
esign is only incremental
Weick, ,Rethinking Organizational Design’, in Managing as Designing, ed. Boland and Collopy

17. designing
...gains meaning from thrownness
uation can’t be determined
esign enlarges the set of options
duce blind spots
cilitate brief reflection
duce the disruptiveness of interruptions
ncourage trial and error with safety
fine primitive categories
hten the coupling between existence and interpretation

18. Good design
is reflection in action
a good process of design, this conversation with the situation
ective. In answer to the situation’s back-talk, the designer
ects-in-action on the construction of the problem, the strategi
ction, or the model of the phenomena, which have been imp
s moves.’
d Schoen, The reflective Practitioner, How Professional think in Action, Perseus Books, 19

19. design thinking
in Organizations
based on interaction design (Buchanon, 2004)
ow people relate to other people
ow products mediate these relationships
d Buchanon, Management and Design: Interaction Pathways in Organizational Life, in Mana
signing, ed. R. Boland and F. Collopy, Stanford Press, 2004, p. 54-64

20. interaction design process
ous steps:
sion
rategic planning
eparing and planning a strategic brief for interaction desig
nerating ideas for design and selecting valuable solutions
anning and prototyping for the ultimate design
d Buchanon, Management and Design: Interaction Pathways in Organizational Life, in Mana
signing, ed. R. Boland and F. Collopy, Stanford Press, 2004, p. 54-64

21. difference
between management and design
esigners visualize in order to make complexity accessible f
team
llaborative and participatory designing
pid and frequent prototyping
er research and user testing
sk based scenario building
general --- designing looks for horizontal distribution of
ponsibilities

22. design thinking
in implicit in management and organizational theory
hanon sees as well the domination of the analytical tools
20th century dominating management:
entific management
anagement of human relations
anagement through structural analysis
n, M, Models of Management: Work, authority, and organization in a comparative perspect

23. Managing as designing
the key issue
analytical tools have dominated in management and ther
ear lack of synthetic skills in new programs of human-
tered action. That is a clear underdeveloped area of
nagement as designing.

24. change
in system understanding
he change in system understanding: we are no longer
using on material systems, on systems of things,
are focusing on human systems, the integration of
rmation, physical artifacts, and interactions in environmen
g, working, playing and learning.
anon, 2001, Design Research and the New Learning, in Design Issues 200117, No. 4, 3-23

25. the order of design
by R. Buchanon
order: design of symbols and signs
order: things and artifacts
order: design of experiences and interactions
order: systems and environments

26. decision paradigm
Deciding
choice-intelligence-design etc.

27. managing as designing
process
Designing

28. designing

29. thank you
f. Jurgen Faust
of lecture to be found at slideshare.